Today I get to share one of my favorite things with you…fostering dogs.
Before my oldest left for college I responded to a post to foster a little black puppy. (I love black dogs and have since learned they are less likely to be adopted.) That pup had a foster, but the guy pictured here, Rowdy, didn’t. Thus began my journey fostering dogs with Cody’s Friends Rescue.
We foster puppies, often as young as two months. At that age, they love being held. They’ve been snuggling with mom and their siblings and desperately miss that connection. I get the joy of puppy cuddles and kisses. It doesn’t get better than that. We usually take two or occasionally three puppies, because it’s easier when then they have a playmate their size.
The question I’m asked most is how do I let them go? We have adopted some. And while we love every foster, some are different. Like Kingston, a puppy with mange we fostered. My husband was a cat person, but Kingston latched onto him. While he was sweet, we joked how he wasn’t bright because after weeks, he didn’t recognize his name. Then one night someone came to the door. The other dogs barked. Kingston remained blissfully asleep. Thus, we discovered Kingston was deaf. Combine his special need with his and Kevin’s best bud status, and he was our first “foster fail.” But I digress. Big surprise there!
It’s never easy letting go, but I cope with my husband’s help. I pick pups up and see to their vet care. He talks with potential adopters and takes fosters to their new homes. He loves seeing how far they’ve come and their joy with their new family. I’m usually crying at home, remembering that every dog we let go makes room for another who needs help. And the need is huge, especially Texas who euthanizes more dogs than anywhere in the country. At times, I think I’m on the Titanic bailing with a teaspoon. Then I remember, while I can’t save every dog, I save the ones I can.
The rescue I foster with, Cody’s Friends Rescue, takes any breed. They also take dogs needing medical care. The most recent, Memphis, was found in a ditch by a friend of a Cody’s foster. Both his rear legs were broken, with the right in three places, which required surgery. I was blessed to be his medical foster, getting him from his “regular” foster the night before, taking him to his surgery appointments, and then getting him back home.(To learn more about Memphis’ heartwarming journey, click here.)
Some fosters have come and gone so fast my head spun, some of whom I thought we’d have forever. Others, despite being fabulous dogs, have waited longer for their humans. Like our current boy, Dalton. Despite being loving and playful, with a huge heart, no one has shown interest. So until then we love him.
If you’ve ever considered fostering, contact a local rescue. You may discover as I have that you get more than you give. I realize not everyone can rescue, but everyone can help. Rescues need people to transport dogs from shelters to fosters, or from fosters to vet appointments. They also need help at adoption events. If you don’t have time for that, share posts you see on social media. I remember a story about a dog in the Weatherford, Texas shelter. A woman saw a Facebook post, fell in love, and drove from Colorado to adopt this dog. Please, please share those posts. You never know when your share will save a dog’s life.
Giveaway: To be entered in today’s random giveaway for a signed copy of A Cure for the Vet containing my book The Rancher and the Vet which has a spirited foster dog, leave a comment about a favorite animal or just one of your favorite things!
Julie Benson has written five novels for Harlequin American, and her Wishing, Texas series is available from Tule Publishing. Now that her three sons have left the nest in Dallas, when she isn't writing, Julie spends her time working on home improvement projects, rescuing dogs, and visiting Texas wineries with her husband. Visit her at www.juliebenson.net.
My two older boys have adopted foster resues. Oldest and wife’s dog was their foster fail. A black dog mix. Millie.
My middle’s dog was his fiancee’s first. She was a rescue and former show dog. Pomeranian. Lexi with a pink tail and toenails. Great wardrobe, too.
We told the youngest to find a girl with a dog. lol My allergies make it too hard to have a pet full-time.
Denise,, how wonderful that your family adopts rescues! I’ve always said rescues know how lucky they are when they get adopted. They realize how hard life can be and are so grateful to be loved and safe. Have a wonderful week, and thanks for always being here!
I love that you foster! I’m allergic, so I can’t have pets… but my daughter rescued a dog from our local shelter that was scheduled to be put down the next day & he became her best buddy & a great emotional support dog! He was the sweetest, most loving dog ever! He was so sweet that I couldn’t help petting him even though I knew I would suffer for it.
Ami, bless your daughter for adopting that boy! So many great dogs end up in his situation. How wonderful that he and your daughter have helped each other so much. What a testament to how special he is that you risked allergy problems to pet him. That’s high praise!
Thanks for being here today. Take care and have a great week.
like animals
Thanks for stopping by today. I’m kind of animal crazy, too. I love horses, cows, cats, and probably more if I thought longer. Thanks for being here and have a great week.
It takes someone with a big heart to welcome strange dogs into their home, Julie. As you know, my daughter has started fostering, and some of the stories she tells about the dogs that need new homes are heartbreaking. Those are the ones she’s especially drawn to, and there’s no shortage of love that she gives them.
Bravo to you, my friend!
I would love to foster dogs, but I don’t know if I could give them up again. We are dogless right now as our Rikki passed in September’22. At this time we don’t have the option to get another dog. Will see what the Lord has in mind, as time goes on.
I’m sorry you lost Rikki. It’s never easy losing our furry besties. Not everyone can foster, but remember you can help out in other ways like sharing posts of dogs at shelters.
Thanks for being here today. Take care and have a great week.
I have picked up many unwanted Aussies over the years – 2 we kept and others I found great homes for!
Teresa, how big hearted of you! You’re an experienced foster! The benefit of working with a reputable rescue is they pay for the vet bills for shots and spaying/neutering. Cody’s will sometimes get food donations that save the foster money, too.
Thanks for the Aussies you saved and for being here today. Take care and have a fabulous week.
I have never foster a dog, but my mother did and ended up keeping it. Some of our dogs were dogs someone was giving away usually family so we would take them.
Most people who foster end up keeping one or two over the years. How wonderful that you could give unwanted dogs a home. So often it does not end well for dogs given away for free. Rescues try to take them to ensure their safety.
Thanks for being here today and have a terrific week.
I have had 4 rescues. These dogs are so lovable, smart and give me love and hope. I have one now and she is my forever dog.
Ruth, thanks for all you’re doing. I find rescue dogs are so giving because they are so thankful to be safe and loved. Thanks for being here today. Take care and have a super week.
It is great that you foster dogs, around here we have a cat problem. I have a cat which is in and out of the house that came from a feral cat. Now we have another mother feral cat that is having kitten right and left. She has about 4 liters last year, because I ended up with two of her kittens last year that I had fixed and take care of everyday outside. The feral mother cat you can’t get near her but she will bring the kittens around after she has them.
Thank you for what you do for cats. For some reason, there aren’t many rescues that take cats. A friend started one in the Dallas area, A Voice for All Paws. You might check with area vets or shelters. They may have a trap and release program (TNR). If you take the kittens or cats in they will spay or neuter them to help control the population. Then you take them back where you found them and release them.
Thanks for being here today and have a terrific week.
thank you to you and your husband for what you do. fostering is such a wonderful and important thing for these dogs and cats. we adopted to feral fostered kittens four years ago. they were both aged 6 months. the black one (Feather) it was her third time out. no one wanted a beautiful loveable black kitty. the gray one (Nickle) it was her first time out. they both picked us and we have been in love with them. I dont know if I can name a favorite animal. honestly. I grew up on a working farm that had many animals. I was in 4-H with a horse, a heifer, and a pig. I grew up with cats and dogs and birds and bunnies etc. we have always had animals around. when I got married my husband was allergic to cats. we got a puppy for the kiddos. we had a lizard, fish, guinea pigs, hamsters, well you get the idea quilting dash lady at comcast dot net
Lori, your kitties sound precious. And your house sounds like mine. Over the years we’ve had cats, dogs, a turtle (my son still has), hamsters, guinea pigs, hermit crabs, fish and probably a few critters I’ve forgotten.
Thanks for stopping by today. Take care and have a fabulous week.
I love seeing all these pup pics! I don’t understand why the black dogs are so unpopular. I think they’re beautiful. My sister fosters lots of dogs and cats. She lives in the country so has room for big dog runs and kennels for the dogs so she usually has several. We can’t foster because we have three of our own and live in town but we help out with donations and sharing posts and things. Two of our dogs were adopted from rescues and one directly from the pound. Sadly, the Amarillo pound is notorious for the high number of euthanasias they do. Thank you for fostering and helping these sweet babies!!
Christy, how wonderful that your sister fosters, and I’m right there not understanding why black dogs are adopted less. It’s called Black Dog Syndrome. (Part of it is they’re hard to photograph, but there’s other perception issues.) I love all you do with donating and especially sharing posts. People don’t realize how much sharing a post helps. Because someone shared Rowdy’s post, I saw it and that’s how my fostering started. It’s so sad that our Texas shelters euthanize so many animals when in other areas they don’t have animals for all the folks who want to adopt!
Thanks for all you do and for being here. Have a great week.
I don’t have any pets. Mom and I always said we’d get a cat when she couldn’t travel any more; however, when she got age-related macular degeneration, we couldn’t get a cat then as she wouldn’t have been able to see it, and I was afraid it would trip her or she’d step on it. However, my nextdoor neighbor has both dogs and cats, so when I need a “fix” I can go there! One of her German Shepherds at a litter of puppies, and she called me to go over and love on them, so I did! I’m much a cat person, but dogs ignore that, as I’ve made friends with dogs that no one else could/would!
Trudy, how wonderful your neighbor shares her furry friends with you. Puppies are incredible. I love fostering little ones because they just want to be held and loved. Thanks for stopping by today. Take care and have a wonderful week.
God Bless you, Julie! What a wonderful thing you do fostering the pups!
I love critters too…have rescued and/or owned in general many cats, birds, fish, chickens, ducks and of course dogs! Alot of work, but worth the love we share!
Lynn, thank you for your kind words, but I get as much out of fostering as I give. You’ve had quite an array of critters. I’ve never had birds and I wish I had the space for chickens. Occasionally in the spring we get ducks in our pool! I love watching them and wish they’d stay longer.
Thanks for being here. Have a great week.
Good morning, wow what a Beautiful people you and your husband are! God Bless you for doing this for our pups that have nothing but unconditional love for people. Our very first dog we had our daughter and our son in law got for me. After they had been married for a month, they got me a pup that was in the dog pound here tin our town and they rescued him from being euthanized, he became the Best and most lovable pup that I have ever had. Well, we had him for about 7 yrs . Unfortunately he got out of our yard one day when we weren’t home and he got run over, he was not street savvy at all, we would take him on walks every day on a leash. Well about a month or 2 after , my husband had seen that I was pretty sad about losing our pup so he heard that a man was giving away the whole litter of pups that his dog had had, well they were only 6 weeks old and the man was giving them away because they were not full Schnauzers like he wanted, well my husband went and picked one up and he brought him home for me as a surprise, I thought I was not ready for a puppy yet, but when I saw that little furry pup, I just fell in love with him, he is now 9 yrs old and he is such a sweet boy and is always by our side. Thank you for doing what you do Jullie.
Alicia, thank you for sharing your story with me. I lost one on my dogs as a child because she wasn’t street wise either. It’s never easy losing our furry besties. No matter how long they’re with us, it’s never long enough.
Thank you for your kind words. Snuggle that non-purebred (the best dogs are muts or mixes) and have a fabulous rest of the week!
I love dogs too! I think that’s wonderful you foster dogs. It sounds like something I’d like to do, but with my work schedule and current life situation it wouldn’t work. Maybe in the future though, that would be kind of fun. I love the thought of helping dogs find their forever home.
It’s a rewarding experience fostering. Rescues also need temporary fosters. And remember you can always help network dogs! People don’t realize how much that helps. Take care, thanks for being here, and have a great week.
It would be difficult to foster and give them up. I fall in love with them all. Their personalities and sweetness are wonderful. Babka is wise and extremely special.
Sharon, it is hard but then I make room for the next one that needs saving. And because I foster little ones I can always have puppy kisses! Thanks for being here today. Have a wonderful rest of the week!
It would be so hard to give them up after getting attached to them! My daughter is such an animal lover that every time she would see a stray she would pick it up and take it home with her and take care of it until she would find a home for it I always told her she should of been a vet! We all would get attached and it was amazing how she always took care them Thank you for sharing this post today! Have a Blessed week!
Sarah, your daughter is a natural foster! I love how she brought home strays and found homes for them. You’ve done a good job raising her! Thanks for being here today. Take care and have a wonderful week.
I don’t have any pets now but had several dogs when I was younger!
Teresa, I hope you have fond memories of those childhood pets. Thank you for stopping by today. Take care and have a super week.
I enjoyed reading your post. When I was a kid, we adopted a dog from an animal shelter. He was actually half Australian Dingo and half something else, maybe Golden Retriever. We had him through my whole childhood. He lived for 17 years.
Diana, how lucky you were to have that childhood dog for so long. I’m trying to imagine half Dingo and Golden. What a combination.
Thank you for being here today. Take care and have a super week!
I love pets who come from the Humane Society or strays from our neighborhood. We have had dogs and cats. We are currently a cat home. We have three indoor cats. We feed the strays outside. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
Debbie, why am I not surprised you feed stray cats? Maybe because you have a big heart? I truly believe animals who’ve come from a shelter or come into a rescue, now how hard life can be. We used to joke about our one dog who was a stray in our town, that she would tell our fosters to be careful. She’d been on the mean streets…and it was way better in our house.
Take care and have a fabulous rest of the week.
We have had a variety of pets through the years, many of which were rescued. We have had guinea pigs, dogs, cats, a hamster, a bearded lizard, a turtle and an iguana. Therefore, I can’t pick a favorite. They are all precious in their own way.
Cheri, you sound like you’ve had as big an array of animals as I’ve had, and yes, they are all special. Thanks for being here today. Have a great week.
Bless you for fostering. It isn’t something everyone can do, but so rewarding for those who can. We fostered for several years. We had just lost our first dog, a rescue beagle mix 17 years old, and had promised our son he could pick the next dog. Our daughter worked as a vet tech and called us one morning to say there was a box with mom and 7 lab mix puppies left at their door. The vet had already called the animal shelter when I arrived and the dogs were gone. I went to the shelter and found the dogs were kept in the back . They really didn’t have the room to keep puppies until they were old enough to adopt out. I volunteered to foster and we brought them home. Olivia was our first foster fail and one of my favorite of our 11 dogs. She also made it to 17. We fostered primarily litters, but did take several singles both puppy and senior. . Our other foster fail was from our last litter, a terrier mix. We got those 5 puppies when they were 3 days old when their mother disappeared. We haven’t fostered for many years, but continue to adopt rescues and have had several strays adopt us. When our son took his dog to live with him, it was the first time in 45 years or so we didn’t have at least one dog. My husband “whined” about not having a dog everyday. A friend of our daughter found a dog and was looking for a home. We came home from a vacation to find a new dog waiting for us. Our current dog appears to be a dachshund-beagle mix. She was found dumped in the woods. She is a sweet dog, but very skittish. She never made a sound for the first 2 months. She is settling in but still seems to be expecting harsh treatment. From her reactions, I believe she may have some degree of deafness. Poor thing doesn’t know how to play and will not walk on a leash. I think she is afraid to leave the house area thinking she may be dumped again. We have had her since September and she still. needs TLC, though my husband has done a good job of spoiling her. I have considered a companion for her. She needs to learn how to be a dog. At about 2 she should be playing and more active than she is.
We may foster again, but we are still traveling. Our daughter will let the dog out, but since they work, it is a bit hard for her and unfair for the dog to be cooped up all day. Fostering takes more attention than we can give a dog right now. We will concentrate on our new one. We never know when another one will land on our doorstep.
No need to enter my name in the drawing. I already have the book.
We currently have three rescue dogs and five rescue cats